President Donald Trump is trying to make his White House ballroom a “fait accompli” by building it so quickly the judiciary won’t be able to stop him, a historic preservation group told the US Supreme Court.
If completed, the ballroom addition would be larger than the White House mansion and West Wing combined, with a security bunker underneath. Trump demolished the East Wing to make way for the ornate structure. A federal appeals court decision blocking most above-ground construction is set to take effect Friday unless the Supreme Court puts the ruling on hold.
In a filing that tees up the high court to decide the fate of the 90,000-square-foot facility, the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States on Tuesday blasted the White House for expediting construction even after two lower courts said the administration was probably violating the law.
Trump told the Supreme Court he is building a “highly integrated military complex that incorporates a classical, but highly secured, ballroom and crucial national-security facilities. Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene on Friday, pulling the justices into a highly symbolic clash over his efforts to unilaterally remake the aesthetics of the nation’s capital.
